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Ohio State players, including Rashod Berry (13), Sam Hubbard (6) and Jamarco Jones (74), take the field before the spring game at Ohio Stadium on Saturday, April 16, 2016, in Columbus. David Jablonski/Staff

Lucky’s Taproom, Trolley Stop, Blind Bob’s and Thai Nine, all residing in the Oregon District, as well as nearby South Park Tavern and Peach’s Grill in Yellow Springs, sell craft beers from local and nationally known breweries and participate in growler programs, allowing you to take home more of the good stuff.

If you’d prefer some spirits to go with your OSU spirit, it gets no more Buckeye than Dayton-based Buckeye Vodka. Compared in taste and smoothness to the higher-priced Grey Goose, Buckeye has been turning heads locally and nationally since 2011.

Why not give the Buck Nut Mocha Martini a try?

Needs:

-1 ounce Buckeye Vodka

-3/4 ounce Bailey’s

-3/4 ounce Mocha Kahlua

Prep:

Put the Mocha Kahlua in the bottom of a martini glass. Combine vodka and Baileys in shaker and chill. Layer mix over Mocha. Serve with stir straw.

Double-gold-medal-winning Dayton Gin was first released by Belle of Dayton just last fall. FILE
(Staff Writer)

Belle of Dayton Distillery, 122 Van Buren St., Dayton, has been proudly displaying the city’s name in their vodka, rum, whiskey and gin products since they opened up shop in 2010.

Mikesell’s was founded in Dayton in 1910.
(Staff Writer)

SNACKS

Who doesn’t like blindly cramming their hands into an OSU-colored bowl for sustenance in effort to not miss a single play of the game?

Generations of Dayton-area sports fans have been crunching their way to victory with Mikesells Potato Chipssince 1910, when the producer of dried beef and sausage started selling “Saratoga Chips”. The new product caught on, and more than 100 years later, Mikesells has nearly 20 varieties of potato chips that are sold in seven different states, with special orders being shipped nationwide.

Mikesells has even teamed up with local chocolatier Esther Price to offer two kinds of chocolate-covered chips. Price opened her first store on Wayne Ave. in 1952, after decades of selling her homemade sweets to coworkers. Her candies have been a Dayton treasure ever since.

Esther Prices Candies in Dayton sells over half a million boxes of assorted chocolates every year.
(Hannah Poturalski/ STAFF)

But she wasn’t the first one on the local sweets scene that’s turned into a business that’s still active today. Winans Chocolates and Coffees, established in the late 1800s, holds that distinction. With various locations throughout the Miami Valley, some say Winans’ chocolate and peanut butter Buckeyes are the best around.

If you’re throwing a Dayton-themed Buckeyes party, there are pretzels and then there are Smales Pretzels. Any Gem City-proud snack expert will tell you there is no comparison. The bakery was founded by current owner Emma Smales’ German-born great-great grandfather in 1895, and has been at its 210 Xenia Ave. location since 1926. People actually set their alarms to get up early enough for the freshest batch of the beloved pretzels.